10 Best practices to keep capacity planning on point

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Capacity planning should be simple, starting from the fact that if you're using Jira, it can't be done there in that way.

Besides, it actually shouldn't be a heavy process to comply with, nor another tool; the idea here it's to reduce silos, and be effective for the sake of productivity.

If your teams work in Jira, a few straightforward practices can keep plans realistic, workloads fair, and delivery predictable.

That's why I'm choosing to share below ten simple practices that will help you to plan in % or hours, link capacity to real work items, plan the unexpected, and run quick weekly reviews to compare planned vs. logged work.

The whole idea of this is to make data visible to avoid project switching and iterate monthly on variance. Check them out, and let me know what you think about them:

Keeping your team workload plans simple and effective:

1. Plan occupancy per person. It can be done statistically (%) or per hour, depending on your focus. There's a simple equation for this that allows for preventing the feared phantom capacity.
   
   
2. Link Spaces or Work items to the planning. This will deliver accuracy and make adjusting work easier.
   
   
3. Create crews. Grouping people around a specific effort builds flow and reduces costs.
   
   
4. Plan what's unexpected. Reserving from 10–15% per person in the case of interruptions or escalations will allow us to forecast for future/similar projects.
   
   
5. Set limits. Avoid burnout by allocating fewer parallel tasks, which means finishing work faster. If new work comes up, agree on what to hold and then keep going.
   
   
6. Review team capacity periodically. Audit plans weekly, adjusting the following: avoiding daily and immediate weekly churn, and keeping plans fresh.
   
   
7. Compare plans against what has been done. If someone’s overloaded, adjust and document the decision for the project post-mortem.
   
   
8. Control incoming projects. Don’t let your crews roll out into different projects. Two projects at once should be the ceiling. If a third project shows up, delay or drop something.
   
   
9. Sharing capacity workload frequently will allow everyone to check it out simply, reducing frictions and status meetings.
   
   
10. Track project capacity, including indicators such as planned vs. actual work, its variance, overtime trend, and % unplanned work, and level staffing projections for the next sprints.

These simple practices can potentially make capacity planning accessible for everyone and visible to keep project development aligned across apps and teams. These make the PMO advance faster, adjusting to plans early before dates slip or people burn out.

And of course, if you want to automate it, centralize it, and have a solution like this centralized in the same place, Allocaty for Jira, part of the PMO Solution for Jira, is the right place to go, with a single, color-coded calendar inside Jira to plan and reallocate work in minutes, allowing you to overview planned vs. logged work in the same screen.

Adoption is quick, making governance lighter, and ultimately, Jira capacity planning sticks